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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mazeroski views Biggio as ‘lock’ to be elected to Hall of Fame on first ballot

Easily over the Mazeroski Wall of Fame…

“I think he’s pretty much a lock to get into the Hall of Fame as a first-ballot guy,” Mazeroski said. “He had a real good career. He was such a great athlete. You look at what he was able to do with his bat, but then you realize the guy happened to play catcher, second base and center field, before going back to second.”

...According to Mazeroski, one of the things that impressed him most about Biggio was he played a large portion of his career in the pitcher-friendly Astrodome, yet evolved into one of the top hitters.

“I remember playing in the Astrodome for the very first time,” Mazeroski said. “It was really hard as a hitter to play in that stadium. There was no sky. A good connection off the bat often died in the outfield. I remember it being awful. It never was a hitter’s park. That makes Biggio look even better for what he did.”

...Biggio was an Astro for all 20 of his major league seasons.

“It was really unselfish for him to move to center field for the signing of Jeff Kent,” Mazeroski said. “He’s a team player. He has all the accomplishments and was a great example on how to play the game. I really respect him. It seemed like he could do anything.”

Repoz Posted: January 26, 2012 at 04:38 PM | 13 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: astros, hall of fame, history

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1. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: January 26, 2012 at 04:56 PM (#4046450)

Anyone else remember those old Bill Mazeroski season preview magazines?

I recall them being laughably bad. I believe they grouped all of starting pitching in one position, and weighed it equally with the 8/9 fielders in determining team quality.

2. cardsfanboy

Posted: January 26, 2012 at 05:20 PM (#4046484)

I (mostly)agree with Mazeroski, Biggio is the closest we have to a lock on that ballot, and I fully expect get between 70-80% of the vote. As Andy likes to point out, nobody knows how the steroid backlash is going to affect everyone on the ballot. I just think he's got enough on his resume along with no obvious taint, (or even suggested taint, a roider doesn't hit an average of 17 hrs a year, according to the simpletons who will be voting against roid taint) that he'll get on pretty much every ballot, sure there will probably be a small groundswell of "not first ballot guy" that might affect a small portion of the total, and even larger percentage of voters who don't follow baseball anymore and will "forget" to vote for him etc. But I don't think there is enough uninformed voters for him to miss out on making it in.

3. Cris E Posted: January 26, 2012 at 05:21 PM (#4046485)

Two comments:

First, even if the magazines were terrible, you have to give Maz credit for adjusting for park factor and positional value (even if he didn't exactly call it that.)

And more importantly, go look at the list of other stories in the footer of that link. Holy cats, where was this from? We've got the usual photos from Victoria's Secret, a Super Bowl story, rumors about the iPhone 5 and then it starts to lose traction: Demi Moore has allegedly entered rehab after getting high on Whip-Its. A man claims a ghost is responsible for beating his wife. Oscar De La Hoya has been accused of being an abusive cross dresser. WTF?

4. Best Dressed Chicken in Town Posted: January 26, 2012 at 05:49 PM (#4046511)

Didn't click the link but that just sounds like the regular stories in today's NY Post.

5. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: January 26, 2012 at 06:16 PM (#4046535)

Holy cats, where was this from?

Examiner.com is one of those user-contributed sites that gives people a platform from which to speak in lieu of payment. IMO, the quality is generally below SB Nation but above Bleacher Report.

6. McCoy Posted: January 26, 2012 at 06:19 PM (#4046537)

And more importantly, go look at the list of other stories in the footer of that link. Holy cats, where was this from? We've got the usual photos from Victoria's Secret, a Super Bowl story, rumors about the iPhone 5 and then it starts to lose traction: Demi Moore has allegedly entered rehab after getting high on Whip-Its. A man claims a ghost is responsible for beating his wife. Oscar De La Hoya has been accused of being an abusive cross dresser. WTF?

Is that any worse than Yahoo.com leading off with "Paula Deen seen eating a cheeseburger" and "Tips on cooking an egg" that has one of the tips be use a spatula?

7. Perry Posted: January 26, 2012 at 06:38 PM (#4046550)

Anyone else remember those old Bill Mazeroski season preview magazines?

I recall them being laughably bad.

Disagree. Maybe the criticism you make is valid, but I recall their player evaluations being much more sophisticated and sabr-aware than anything else out there at the time. I'd been a Bill James (and later Palmer et al.) reader since 1983 -- and was also in a serious table-game league -- and the Maz preview mag was the best annual around, by far.

8. cardsfanboy

Posted: January 26, 2012 at 06:45 PM (#4046556)

IMO, the quality is generally below SB Nation but above Bleacher Report.

You mean it's better than a site that makes you click 11 times to read an article on the ten best of anything? Shocker. Bleacher Report is (to borrow from an earlier post) laughably bad. SB Nation isn't much better on their main content (you have to dig for the good stuff--and to waste Rob Neyer by making him a twitter poster is such a shame--I know people says he still writers articles, but I haven't seen anything worth clicking on in about a year)

9. Bruce Markusen Posted: January 26, 2012 at 10:25 PM (#4046778)

Seconding Perry's notion. For a number of years the Mazeroski magazine was the best season preview magazine available. In the late eighties, early nineties, the Maz magazine was more in depth than The Sporting News or Street and Smith previews.

10. Booey Posted: January 27, 2012 at 12:04 PM (#4047210)

Biggio would be a lock if the BBWAA weren't acting like immature, petty children lately.

But they are, so he's not. And neither is anyone else as long as this "nobody from the steroid era nonsense" is allowed to continue.

11. Ron J Posted: January 27, 2012 at 12:22 PM (#4047235)

#1 I do recall them. At one time they were the best on the market. Then the guy doing the bulk of the work left and they became terrible.

12. Bob Evans Posted: January 27, 2012 at 02:44 PM (#4047481)

Paula Deen seen eating a cheeseburger

link please

13. DK near DC Posted: January 27, 2012 at 02:59 PM (#4047501)

#12 - here you go

I probably should add some disclaimer to that picture..

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mazeroski views Biggio as ‘lock’ to be elected to Hall of Fame on first ballot

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