Sox Therapy: Time To Start Thinking About This Stuff

With All Star Break nigh and the Sox riding high (oh that’s good) we are long past the point of wondering IF the Sox can be contenders and asking what they need to do to solidify themselves. There are some areas where improvement is achievable but I think it is without much quibble that the most obvious hole in the lineup is at first base.  I still hope to see Bobby Dalbec figure it all out but when you have a chance to contend it is difficult to carry the guy “hitting” .217/.264/.413.  With ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1939 Results

Congratulations to Bucky Walters, our 1939 Most Meritorious Player!

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Bucky Walters	95	7	2
Joe DiMaggio	93	7	1
Bob Feller	88	7	2
Josh Gibson	86	7	2
Johnny Mize	81	7	0
Jimmie Foxx	54	6	0
Ted Williams	47	5	0
Buck Leonard	28	3	0
Bobo Newsom	27	3	0
Bill Dickey	21	3	0
Dolph Camilli	19	2	0
Red Rolfe	16	2	0
Joe Gordon	15	2	0
Mel__ Ott	12	2	0
Bill__ Byrd	9	1	0
Lefty Grove	8	1	0
Roy Partlow	8	1	0
Arky Vaughan	7	1	0
Bob Johnson	7	1	0
Ival Goodman	7	1	0
Paul Derringer	7	1	0

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1893 Discussion

No World Series yet so no postseason consideration.

Player			BBR WAR
Ed Delahanty		6.9
Mike Smith		5.3
Billy Hamilton		5.0
Cupid Childs		4.7
George Davis		5.7
Denny Lyons		5.0
Bid McPhee		3.9
Sam Thompson		4.2
Jake Beckley		4.6
Billy Nash		3.6
Roger Connor		4.4
Dan Brouthers		3.8
John McGraw		4.3
Herman Long		2.9
Bob Allen		3.0
Jack Glasscock		4.0
Jesse Burkett		3.9
John Ward		3.7
Buck Ewing		3.5
Joe Kelley		3.3
Jack Crooks		2.7
Hugh Duffy		3.4
Bill Dahlen		2.7
Tommy McCarthy		3.3
George Van ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1939 Ballot

For 1939 each voter should rank the top 10 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 7 July 2021. Please let me know if you want your preliminary ballot counted as your final ballot.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If you have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 6 July 2021.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Sox Therapy: And Breathe

On the morning of May 30th the Red Sox (and the rest of us) woke up in Boston, looked out the window and saw the rain pelting down.  When the game was postponed and rescheduled for the following Monday the Sox were facing a fairly daunting 17 game stretch.  At that point the Sox had faced a fairly pedestrian schedule and took advantage to muster a 32-20 record that left them a game out of first place behind the Rays.  But the next day would begin a test, 4 in Houston, 3 in the Bronx, 1 with the ...

Sox Therapy: Feeling a Draft

Next month the Sox will make their highest draft pick since 1967 when they picked third (Mike Garman so y’know it’s not an automatic).  Many names are flying around, some familiar (Jack Leiter, Kumal Rocker) others not (Henry Davis, Jordan Lawlar, Marcelo Mayer) but at draft time I always like to look to past as prelude to the future.  Rather than try to tell you something about players I have at best seen in passing I’ll tell you to go Sox Prospects or Baseball America for all the gory details ...

Sox Therapy: Getting There

They got there in the end.  The Sox wound up arguably their sternest test of the season to date with a 4-3 record during this challenging road trip through Houston and Miami.  Sorry, New York, I get the teams with one World Series this century mixed up sometimes.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, an uneven but ultimately successful road trip.  Losing three in a row then taking the next four is not necessarily the ideal way to finish up 4-3 (it can be a lot of fun though) but as noted, they got ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1938 Results

Congratulations to Ray Brown, our 1938 Most Meritorious Player!

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Ray Brown	107	8	3
Mel Ott__	106	8	2
Arky Vaughan	95	8	2
Hank Greenberg	81	8	0
Jimmie Foxx	81	7	0
Josh Gibson	76	6	1
Buck Leonard	48	6	0
Bill Lee	48	5	0
Joe Cronin	43	5	0
Stan Hack	26	3	0
Hilton Smith	23	2	0
Johnny Mize	22	3	0
Martin Dihigo	16	2	0
Red Ruffing	14	2	0
Ival Goodman	12	2	0
Ernie Lombardi	10	1	0
Harlond Clift	9	1	0
Bill Dickey	9	1	0
Joe DiMaggio	8	1	0
Bill Byrd	6	1	0

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1939 Discussion

The Yankees swept the Reds in the World Series. The Kansas City Monarchs defeated the St. Louis Stars in the Negro American League. The Baltimore Elite Giants defeated the Homestead Grays in a two round Negro National League playoff.

Vote for 10.

Player				bWAR
Joe DiMaggio			8.4
Johnny Mize			7.7
Arky Vaughan			5.8
Bill Dickey			5.5
Ted Williams			6.7
Jimmie Foxx			6.9
Dolph Camilli			6.4
Lonny Frey			6.5
Ival Goodman			5.3
Ken Keltner			4.4
Bob Johnson			6.6
George Selkirk			5.8
Harry ...

Sox Therapy: The Return

On Saturday at about 7:10PM Nate Eovaldi will bring his left foot back, then forward raising his knee above his belt, then propel his body towards home plate whipping a baseball at a speed up to 100 MPH to Christian Vazquez or Kevin Plawecki.  37,731 people, give or take, will respond happily, or maybe sadly, or maybe mildly indifferently.  It is that last piece of information that is so important.  37,731 people.  Full…bleeping…capacity.  100% of all available seats and standing room areas ...