I’m always awed by Joe Posnanski’s enthusiasm, which drives his stories. Is Andre Dawson in 1987 the worst MVP pick of all time? Could be, but the Hawk was winning me Rotisserie League money back in those days, and he was a gas to watch play the game. That arm, those arms! Dawson was no fraud. Enjoy and discuss.
History
Wahoo …
Passionate and authoritative piece about the Indians’ team name and logo. I don’t think about banning the team name, but whenever I see the logo I marvel that they still use it. Posnanski makes it clear why they shouldn’t, and gives a nice colorful history lesson in the process.
Race for NL Batting Title Goes to Extras
This story has a concise rundown of the major records for this year, but it’s notable for some other comments. Chipper Jones says he’s going home to prepare for a nice postseason, a funny choice of words for a guy who should be used to playing in the postseason.
Also, to say that “Detroit’s Curtis Granderson legged out 23 triples, most in the major leagues since Cleveland’s Dale Mitchell had 23 in 1949,” ignores the fact that 23 and 23 are the same. When did someone have 24 triples? The correct sentence would be: Detroit’s Curtis Granderson legged out 23 triples, most in the majors since Pittsburgh’s Kiki Cuyler hit 26 in 1925 (Cleveland’s Dale Mitchell had 23 in 1949).
Of the Top 25 triples totals only Granderson, Mitchell and Stuffy Stirnweiss (1945, NYA) rank from the post World War II era.
Probables
Major League Baseball : Scoreboard
I was in a bar tonight having a beer with someone I’d just meant. He said that his father was rolling in his grave while the Mets faded, and you can see why. A collapse befitting the Cubs has befallen the Mets and I never realized how many die hard Mets fans I knew.
Apart from the historic size of the crash, which is unprecedented, the stinging moment comes when one recalls how the “easy” Mets schedule in September would allow them to wrap things up early.
Recent history is no tonic for a Mets fan, but in this weekend’s matchups the Mets pitcher has a better ERA than every Marlin pitcher, and each Philly pitcher has a worse ERA than the Nationals pitcher he’s facing.
That isn’t a guarantee that my new friend’s dead dad can lie easy, baseball doesn’t work that way, but despite their recent travails I still like the Mets. (Just as I did when I got Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda’s autographs on the LIRR Mr. Met Whistle Stop Tour, nearly a lifetime ago.)
Minor League Baseball Statistics and History
Sean Forman has got a draft of minor league history up since 1992. As usual the pages are elegant and easy to digest, and fast. Kudos, even though this noble second step indicates just how much more work there is to be done.
(No knock intended to thebaseballcube.com, which was the first step.)
The city of brotherly losers
Bruce has written for the Fantasy Baseball Guide, but I didn’t know until just now that he wrote a piece for Salon about the Phillies losing 10,000 games faster (if you can call it that) than any other franchise. Bruce is promoting his book Walking Broad, in which he walks the length of Broad Street and revisits his home town, his history, it’s history and all the people who share their histories and lives there.
I bring this up because the book is a good one, even if you’re not particularly interested in Philadelphia, but also because he mentions that the Atlanta Braves are only 300 loses behind the Phillies. But does that count? Does the accumulative history of losing carry over from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta?
This matters because all sorts of baseball history is tied up in the towns we live in, and the teams we root for there, and it does a disservice to the localism to tie records to the legal entity of the franchise. Is Andre Dawson really the premier home run hitter of the Washington Nationals?
Will Carroll talks to Mark Silva
 bpr_070807_1.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)
Mark Silva makes Barry Bonds’ elbow brace, which I guess a writer earlier today claimed gave Bonds a huge advantage when it comes to standing close to the plate (which makes some sense to me) and other physical advantages that Silva emphatically refutes.
That’s interesting, but the reason to listen to this mp3 is because Silva perhaps best knows about the size and definition of the muscles in Bonds’ arm, since he measures them every year. If steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are meant to build muscle mass, where’s the beef?
Excellent work, Will.
An interview with Jim Brosnan
Jim Brosnan’s Long Season is a great baseball book, highly recommended to everyone who has an interest in the game. This gentle interview with Brosnan has a grace and good will about it that is awfully appealing, without being soft or nostalgic. My favorite part is when Brosnan names Willie Mays his toughest out, then recalls a game he struck him out three times. Retrosheet jocks should be able to retrieve the date. I like the memory. (Thanks to Bruce.)
Ask Rotoman
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
If pressed should teams rely on pitching, or cling to hitting? I think the answer (pitching) is clear. Especially if you can sing for Santana, Dump Carpenter (this post comes after the story was written), and stand by Brad Penny. At least until he fades.
Good luck into the second half.
Translated Home Run Numbers Good Til the Last Drop
Clay Davenport and Will Carroll put together translated season-by-season home run stats for all of modern baseball history and demonstrate that Babe Ruth really was the greatest. There is a nice twist, however, one that seems very satisfying at first, but the explanation about how it came about makes me want to learn more about the project before throwing all my support behind it.
But even if you shouldn’t say this stands as decisive evidence, it sure feels right.