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Go ahead and post - it's more fun that way. Although I did get your email.
Is OCF famous?
No. There's probably no reason you would have ever heard my name.
If OCF would just publish the formula for consensus scores, ...
Maybe after this is over I'll send you a message. It is kind of a kludge, but I've stuck with it.
I don't have much access to listings of Run Shares, WARP3, or anything that sophisticated - I'd rather make my arguments from raw encyclopedia data...
I can't believe Buster Olney's been in our midst all this time without our knowing it! How many "productive outs" will Derek Jeter make this year, Bus?
; )
1. St Louis, MO. The suburbs.
2. 1946
3. Nebraska---just outside of Racine.
4. More verbal than quantitative; OCF sells corporate farm insurance
and thus must know actuarial and financial data as he presents to clients.
5. football: inside linkebacker, cerebral, yet physical, the heart of the
defense; on offense he played tight end.
basketball: foreward---just a smidge too tall for guard, not tall enough for
center, but as an inside linebacker, perfect for power foreward
baseball: third base---good hands, quick reactions, but not enough speed for
the OF, nor quick enough for MI. Better instincts than the coach's son who
played first, but not squat enough for catcher.
bonus: OCF was on the field with Wade Boggs.
6. In the great St Louis tradition OCF prefers jazz. Though he grew up at
the same time Ornette Coleman came of age, he eschews free jazz and prefers
the more structured sounds of Sonny Rollins, Trane, Cannonball Adderly and
others of that period. His greatest love, however, is Dixieland jazz and
rag/stride/barrelhouse piano. In fact, OCF, himself, plays clarinet in a
local Dixieland combo and occaisionally takes to the streets for a rousing
jazz march. Naturally as a Cards fan and generally as a Missouri lover, he
prefers Scott Joplin to all other rag/stride/barrelhouse players...as in Jopline, MO. Wacka wacka!
7. OCF's other register posting site is the Farm Insurance Association of
America, where he moderates due to his position within this professional
organization.
8. This second identity is used only for posts which make references, as
appropriate, to his favorite film The Big Lebowski.
9. Rodeo.
1. In what major metropolitan area does OCF live? (Can you specify what part of that metropolitan area?)
Los Angeles, CA. Orange County.
2. In what year was OCF born?
1955
3. In what state was OCF born and raised? (It's the same community from birth through age 18, and it does lie within the nighttime range of KMOX radio from St. Louis.)
Ohio
4. Is OCF's principal occupation better characterized as more quantitative than verbal, or more verbal than quantitative? (Can you be more specific?)
Verbal - he talks for a living.
5. When he was young, OCF did play football, basketball, and baseball, in some mix (different for each sport) of youth leagues, high school, college intramurals, and pickup games. (There's no claim that he was any good at any of them, although he was once on a playing field at the same time as someone who went on to a substantial professional career in that sport.) What positions did he play?
Linebacker, guard, I don't know - 3rd base.
6. Musical tastes have long been a staple of Primer/BTF discussions. What music does OCF prefer to listen to? And OCF participates in music-making - can you specify how?
Folk Music. Peter, Paul & Mary, etc.
Plays the dulcimer for a local band...
7. OCF is a registered poster on two sites. One is BTF. The other (on which he uses his real name, and is a moderator) has nothing to do with sports. What is the subject of this other site?
Music
8. OCF keeps a second, seldom-used narrow-purpose BTF identity. Any clues?
Old Cardinal Fan
9. John Murphy claims a relative, a cousin of a different generation, who achieved considerable athletic fame primarily from the events of a single day. OCF also claims a relative, a cousin of a different generation, who achieved considerable athletic fame primarily from the events of a single day. In the case of John's relative, the sport was bicycle racing. What was the sport in the case of OCF's relative?
Figure skating
1. In what major metropolitan area does OCF live? (Can you specify what part of that metropolitan area?)
Anchorage, Alaska. Third igloo on the left.
2. In what year was OCF born?
1979.
3. In what state was OCF born and raised? (It's the same community from birth through age 18, and it does lie within the nighttime range of KMOX radio from St. Louis.)
Iowa, on the Field of Dreams farm.
4. Is OCF's principal occupation better characterized as more quantitative than verbal, or more verbal than quantitative? (Can you be more specific?)
Quantitative. He developed string theory.
5. When he was young, OCF did play football, basketball, and baseball, in some mix (different for each sport) of youth leagues, high school, college intramurals, and pickup games. (There's no claim that he was any good at any of them, although he was once on a playing field at the same time as someone who went on to a substantial professional career in that sport.) What positions did he play?
Quarterback, Point Guard, and Pitcher/Shortstop. He was once sacked by Jack Lambert.
6. Musical tastes have long been a staple of Primer/BTF discussions. What music does OCF prefer to listen to? And OCF participates in music-making - can you specify how?
Speed Metal. He plays the pan flute on Bacchanalian feast days.
7. OCF is a registered poster on two sites. One is BTF. The other (on which he uses his real name, and is a moderator) has nothing to do with sports. What is the subject of this other site?
Barbara Streisand Fan Club.
8. OCF keeps a second, seldom-used narrow-purpose BTF identity. Any clues?
Homer Smoot.
9. John Murphy claims a relative, a cousin of a different generation, who achieved considerable athletic fame primarily from the events of a single day. OCF also claims a relative, a cousin of a different generation, who achieved considerable athletic fame primarily from the events of a single day. In the case of John's relative, the sport was bicycle racing. What was the sport in the case of OCF's relative?
Baseball.
Close scrutiny to his many postings have lead me to the inescapable conclusions that follow. He cannily posts inane ramblings to throw the uninitiated off track but those of us who have been paying attention are lead to provide these correct answers.
To wit:
1. Fargo, ND
2. 1938
3. He was born and raised near Pittsburgh, PA., in Donora, Pa. As this is Stan Musial's birthplace, OCF was quickly converted into becomming a life-long cardinal fan.
4. He's quantitatively verbal: he's a stockbroker where time is money and money buys more time.
5. Fullback, lots of blocks and an occasional carry; Basketball - shooting guard and king of the two-handed set shot; Baseball - no hit, good field catcher.
6. Owns the worlds largest collection of pan flute music; named his first son Zamfir.
7. He is registered on the North Dakota cattle auctioneers site as OCF. At that site OCF stands for "odoriferous cow flatulence", his moniker.
He is a highly sought after auctioneer at cattle auctions throughout the great plains states.
8. Busty Daker
9. Curling
1. In what major metropolitan area does OCF live? (Can you specify what part of that metropolitan area?)
Bay Area. East Bay.
6. Musical tastes have long been a staple of Primer/BTF discussions. What music does OCF prefer to listen to? And OCF participates in music-making - can you specify how?
C&W. Steel Guitar
7. OCF is a registered poster on two sites. One is BTF. The other (on which he uses his real name, and is a moderator) has nothing to do with sports. What is the subject of this other site?
The game of craps
8. OCF keeps a second, seldom-used narrow-purpose BTF identity. Any clues?
Al Shank
2. <strike>1941</strike>
3. <strike>Hibbing, Minnesota</strike>
4. <strike>Verbal. Folk-rock singer/poet/guru.</strike>
5. <strike>Lacrosse</strike>
6. <strike>Composes, sings. Plays guitar (acoustic before 1965, electric since), harmonica, piano.</strike>
7. <strike>Music (for XM satellite radio)</strike>
8. <strike>Big Pink</strike>
9. <strike>Chess</strike>
Is OCF famous?
No. There's probably no reason you would have ever heard my name.
Oops... strike that.
...unless, that is, OCF thinks we don't know that his real name is zimmerman...
The only answer I probably got correct, shot down on a technicality...
1. In what major metropolitan area does OCF live? (Can you specify what part of that metropolitan area?)
Manhattan Island, NYC
2. In what year was OCF born?
1955
3. In what state was OCF born and raised? (It's the same community from birth through age 18, and it does lie within the nighttime range of KMOX radio from St. Louis.)
Pennsylvania.
4. Is OCF's principal occupation better characterized as more quantitative than verbal, or more verbal than quantitative? (Can you be more specific?)
Verbal.
5. When he was young, OCF did play football, basketball, and baseball, in some mix (different for each sport) of youth leagues, high school, college intramurals, and pickup games. (There's no claim that he was any good at any of them, although he was once on a playing field at the same time as someone who went on to a substantial professional career in that sport.) What positions did he play?
Offensive lineman, point guard, and left field.
6. Musical tastes have long been a staple of Primer/BTF discussions. What music does OCF prefer to listen to? And OCF participates in music-making - can you specify how?
Rock drummer.
7. OCF is a registered poster on two sites. One is BTF. The other (on which he uses his real name, and is a moderator) has nothing to do with sports. What is the subject of this other site?
I don't know your politics, so I'll say either Free Republic or Democratic Underground. ;-)
8. OCF keeps a second, seldom-used narrow-purpose BTF identity. Any clues?
whiterat24
9. John Murphy claims a relative, a cousin of a different generation, who achieved considerable athletic fame primarily from the events of a single day. OCF also claims a relative, a cousin of a different generation, who achieved considerable athletic fame primarily from the events of a single day. In the case of John's relative, the sport was bicycle racing. What was the sport in the case of OCF's relative?
The Olympics.
BTW, I'm honored to be included in the question. Surprised that you remembered that, OCF. :-)
1. The best single answer anyone gave was here where KJOK said: Los Angeles - Orange County. The Los Angeles metro area is right. More specifically I live in Long Beach - not Orange County, but my house is only about a mile from the county line. I was surprised that there were any answers outside of the Pacific time zone.
2. 1953. Daryn, KJOK, and John Murphy all got within 2 years.
3. You all paid too much attention to that "my first game was in Forbes Field, but nothing else ties me to that area" and not enough attention to the Bob Johnson thread. Of course, the night-time carry of KMOX radio covers quite a few states. The answer: Oklahoma; specifically Bartlesville. The connection to Pennsylvania is that my mother grew up there. Other cities I've lived in: Houston, Chicago, Madison, WI, Austin, TX.
4. Ah, the verbal vs. quantitative question. Of 6 votes, 4 and a half were for verbal. Turns out I'm a professor of mathematics - I guess I've been doing a pretty good job of fooling you. (But then, would you have pegged Chris Cobb for an English professor if he hadn't told you?) My institution: California State University, Long Beach.
5. Daryn's best question (he said OL, F, 1B). I'd put it as T, C/F, and 1B/OF. With a lot of "bench" in all cases. HS letter is in football, best sport was probably basketball even though I got cut from the HS team. Played baseball in Little League and Pony/Colt until age 16, but was basically hopeless for the sport. Big (a little under 6'1"), slow, bad hands, a non-contact (i.e. high-K) opposite field slap hitter. The player with a substantial pro career was an NFL lineman named Mike Fanning - and I was only in that game for one play, and was on the opposite side of the line from Fanning. John's entry was a little strange: OL and PG? When has that ever been the same person?
With my dark hair, full beard, and glasses, I look a little like Bill James.
6. No one came close on the music: classical, and I play viola in an amateur community orchestra.
7. There's a poster on BTF who uses the handle "mathteamcoach." That's not me (I have better grammar), but I could be entitled to the title - a LA-metro-area-wide team of high school kids called the Southern California ARML Team. The other site on which I post? www.artofproblemsolving.com (alternate gateway: www.mathlinks.ro). Math problems and math contests.
8. No one had a clue - it's tied to my location. CSULBguy, whose posts are limited to NCAA baseball, the Long Beach State Dirtbags, and things Long Beach.
9. The sport: College football. The single day: January 2, 1939, the Rose Bowl. My mother's cousin's name: Doyle Nave. You could look it up.
Wow, I have heard about ARML in a *long* time. Brings back memories. I was on the state of Minnesota team for three years in the late 80s. Those trips were fun.
I asume you went to the Iowa site, and Tom Kilkelly had something to do with running the team? There's a western site now; has been San Jose but will be Las Vegas this year. That's where we go.
I was before that. The team went to Duke in '88 and Penn State in 89-90. Fun trips for a high school kid. Tom Kilkelly was my high school math team coach! This was before he switched high schools and took over the state ARML teams. Very imaginative guy, he always managed to come up with the trickiest Geometry & Trig problems. Lots of energy and liked to wear colorful ties.
Wow! Blast from the Past. :-)
John's entry was a little strange: OL and PG? When has that ever been the same person?
Just pointing out how unique you are around here, OCF. ;-)
Basically, I posted whatever came into my head. Showed, huh?
Born and raised in Toronto a Blue Jays fan with Giants leanings.
Served 2 years in the Israeli army. BA (Hons) in English from York University in Toronto. Currently working towards a MA in the same field at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Recently engaged and planning on retunring to North America (Toronto or Chicago) sometime in the summer of 2007.
My name is Harry, I'm about 8 weeks shy of 25. I was born a Yankee fan (born the day they lost the 81 World Series, while my old man drank whiskey and listened to the radio broadcast). Had season tickets throughout my childhood, which cultivated my love for the game, and of Don Mattingly, and my devout hatred of Steve Trout, Andy Hawkins, Dave LaPoint, Mel Hall, and countless others. Currently have the Saturday package. BA in Communications from Springfield College, currently living in Rye, NY (just outside NYC), and working as an analyst at a prominent investment bank.
214. sunnyday2 Posted: October 28, 2009 at 08:11 AM (#3368238)
Over on that subsidiary page to the HoM
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/greenia_fixing_the_hall_of_fame/
Betcha didn't know.
> "Daniel Greenia works for the Pope as a church auditor."</i>
did too!
He works in a Diocese that has seen some hard times, I have reason to believe. He has seen the inscriptions of hard times literally with his own eyes.
Are you capable of understanding the words "first in a series of articles"?
Go directly to Fixing the Hall of Fame, part 1, by Dan Greenia.
Do not pass the BBTF's logo or read its drivel.
Good luck with the series, Dan!
I guess, 5 years too late, I'll add my info:
I'm 28, New York born and bred, was a Mets fan until they let Straw go, switched to the Yankees immediately and never looked back.
Back when all the voting was going on, I was a doctoral student in paleoclimate & isotope geology. When it came time to write my dissertation, I promptly quit and enrolled in law school. I'm a 3L now in NYC, thankfully with a job for next year. I commute to Boston on weekends to be with my girlfriend, who lives up there. It's bred a healthy hatred for the Red Sox, not like I needed the help.
I played baseball (catcher) through High School and still occasionally play. My "tool" was a great arm. I can throw a decent knuckleball, which I view as my greatest achievement in life, but I've never learned to throw a curveball, which I view as my greatest failure.
I'm a 26 year old Venezuelan. When I was a kid, my dad used to take the family to New York once or twice a year, and we visited Yankee Stadium a couple of times when we were there, and that eventually evolved into Yankee fandom. The Expos were my second team while they existed, and I also have sympathies for the A's.
I got into sabermetrics around 2004, in an effort to keep up in a competitive fantasy baseball league with some university buddies. One of the first things I did was create a database of all Hall of Famers, using OPS+ and adjusting for position (ERA+ for pitchers), and that has evolved into the system I use for HOM elections. I lurked in elections since about the late Fifties, and when the Aaron/Robinson election year came up, I told myself "This seems like an easy election, why don't I give active participation a try?".
As for actual playing, I was a right fielder in Little League, and a seldom-used one at that. I had more success in soccer, where I was relatively good through high school, mostly as a goalkeeper.
Currently have an undergraduate degree in Economics and a Masters in Statistics. Next year I'll move to Australia to continue my econ education, and after that.. who knows?
I'm 27, grew up in New York, and went to college at Harvard. My "real job" is working as a foreign correspondent in Latin America for The Economist (in Argentina from 2004-09, and now in Mexico). But I am probably better known professionally as a writer on baseball statistics for The New York Times's Keeping Score column, as well as an occasional contributor of feature stories on baseball in Latin America and writer for their Bats blog.
Sadly, I was never particularly talented at baseball. In what I think must have been an effort to keep up with the cool kids when I was 6, I started devouring baseball books and memorizing stats. By age 11 my camp counselors got no end of delight from quizzing me on arcane trivia which I could always answer, and in high school I was regularly selected many spots higher than I deserved to be in pickup softball games for my ability to recite Royce Clayton's 1996 batting average of .277 on command.
As most HoM voters know, I've invested an insane amount of time in developing a value metric for position players which, fortunately, some members of the electorate have incorporated into their evaluations. I also run a fiercely competitive 20-team fantasy baseball league with a $5,000 pot. (Of its six seasons, I've won four and finished second once--a far more lucrative business than being a journalist).
I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on stereotypes of Latin major leaguers. True to my quantitative bent, this required me to read through every single profile of a baseball player in Sport magazine for 50 years and record every adjective used to describe them in a spreadsheet. I then performed statistical significance tests on this data to determine with p-values under .05 how Latinos were represented in comparison to both American black and American white players.
During the first five months of the season, I root for whoever's on my fantasy team (which, given my trading habits, is about half the league by the time I'm done at one point or another). In September and October, I pull for the Mets if they're in it, and whichever player/team/story particularly engages me if they're not. (I paid very little attention to the 2005 and 07 playoffs; last year I jumped on the Rays bandwagon). My sympathies generally lie with teams that are statistically minded. My favorite player is Pedro Martínez, although growing up it was Juan González (I rooted for the Rangers from about 1992-2000, since I first got hooked on baseball by reading Nolan Ryan's autobiography) among contemporary players and Brooks Robinson among the old-timers.
Believe it or not, I don't have any particular affinity for David Concepción beyond my belief that he should be in the Hall of Merit. That said, I was appalled to find out on a reporting trip in Venezuela that he is considered to be a distant third in their pantheon of shortstops, behind Luis Aparicio and Omar Vizquel. The people I met there weren't too happy with my dismissal of Andrés Galarraga's Hall of Fame credentials either.
My personal big baseball moment was a 2-3 game just before playoffs my senior year which gave me my first hits of the year (to go with 6 walks and 2 HBP). For those keeping track, .200/.555/.200. I think there were a few SB with no CS as well but some of those may have been as a courtesy runner. Now I pitch and manage a Men's D league softball team on Tuesday nights.
Growing up I read more Pete Palmer (Total Baseball) than Bill James. I also read every baseball biography I could find.
Part 5 of the Fixing the Hall series is now up at Dugout Central.
Incidentally that Strat league that Rusty mentioned in #1 is still running. It's in year 33 (though I've only been in it 25 years)
I'm 90% sure I'm headed to KC the last week in July for the Twins / Royals games and a trip to the Negro Leagues museum. We're also going to see Beloit play Burlington on Wed night. Anyone in KC / Iowa interested in meeting up? I should be headed through Des Moines on Monday 7/26 for lunch. Mon-Wed in KC.
What did you find?
Will any HOMren be at the SABR40 convention* in Atlanta, August 4 to 8? Tomorrow is the deadline for the Society's early registration, the hotel's discount rate $129 (space available), and 21-day-advance airfares. I have paid registration and airfare, need accommodations. I prefer to split more than two ways but in the market for half a room if there is certainty in that. I'm willing to move during the convention if there is some economy and near-certainty in the part arrangement.
Email: pwendt.stat at gmail.com
In person I have met KJOK, my fellow non-voter Cliff Blau, Joe D, John M, Eric Chalek, and a few others (M Donelson or Parkinson?, Chris J?). By phone I've conferred with the first two and with TomH. Probably there are a couple others whom I met under real names as SABR members and don't recognize here.
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